Temporary closure



Filed June 12, 1958 ing my invention;

United States Patent TEMPORARY CLOSURE Barton H. Ford, Omaha, Nebr., assignor to Ford Grain Door Company, Omaha, Nebr., a corporation of Nebraska Application June 12, 1958, Serial No. 741,481

8 Claims. (Cl. 160-113) This invention relates to a temporary closure and, more particularly, to a reinforced temporary closure for the opening to a chamber. The invention finds utility in .closing the doorways of grain-carrying vehicles 'such as 'and here it is to be appreciated that the closure panel is ordinarily constructed of a relatively flexible material such as paper so as to be readily disposable, the pressure of the grain confined by the panel may force it outwardly -to an extent that it can abrade against the permanent storm doors of the car. After a time, the barricade fails and valuable cargo is lost. On the other hand, placing the barricade under too much tension deprives it of the necessary resiliency it must possess in order to absorb the stresses imposed by quick shifting of the granular .material brought about by the frequent jerks, starts, and stops that the freight car must necessarily undergo.

p 2 through the brace bar seen in Figs. 1 and 2 and which also shows an anchoring bracket for the brace bar;

Figure 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the brace bar of the invention;

Figure 5 isa perspective view of the anchoring bracket seen in Figure 3; and r T Figure 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of a'modified form of the brace bar equipped with integral floorfastening means.

In 'the illustration given, A designates a railway car provided with oppositely disposed openings having side frames 10. A door 11 is extended across the inner surface of each of the frame 10 to provide a closure across the door opening, the door being formed of corrugated board, plastic plies, plastic sheeting, or any other suitable material adapted to provide a door closure of the tem- An object of the invention is to provide a novel ten-.

sioning arrangement for a temporary closure that avoids the tensioning problems discussed above. 'Another object is to provide a novel type of brace bar reinforcing member for a temporary closure adapted to be applied a to railway car closures or other. chambers containing a shiftable, granular material. Still another object-is to provide novel brace bar means which cooperate with temporary closures positioned across oppositely disposed doorways to provide optimal tensioning of the temporary door closures. Yet another object is to provide a brace bar'for-a relatively flexible temporary door closure in which the bar is anchored atone end to the floor of the chamber equipped with the opening closed by the closure and the brace bar is equipped with a piercing lug spaced from the anchored end and-which extends through the closure and is rigidly connected to a chamber wall.

A further object of the invention is to provide in combination with a temporary door closure and supporting brace bar arrangement, a substantially non-extensible tie member which automatically provides the desired tension 4 in the door closure. Other objects and advantages -(both general and specific) of the invention will appear as the -.-specification proceeds.

The invention is shown, in an illustrated embodiment, in the accompanying drawing,,in which;

Figure 1 is a broken perspective view of a freight car equipped with closures and reinforcing members embody- Figure 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the structure shown in Figure 1; Y

bracket 211, seen mostclearly in Figs. 3 and 5, and which Figure 3 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view taken porary or disposable type. In general, such temporary doors are referred to as sheet'doors and, if desired, the sheet metal may be reinforced with metal straps positioned between plies of the door 11, as indicated by the numeral 11a referring to raised portions on the outer ply of door 11 in Fig; 1. The door is preferably provided at its bottom with a sealing flap 11b, and may be held in position against'the floor by a foot board or pry board 12. A head board 13 may be secured to the side frame members 10 at the upper edge of the door 11 to provide a support for the person who secured the door in place and leaves the car before filling. If desired, the

'edges of the board ll may be reinforced by side battens "drawing, I employ elongated brace bars 15 which may extend in a vertical, or generally vertical, direction along the outside portion of each door, each bar being provided with a barb or piercing flange 16 which may be thrust readily through the sheet'door 11 so as to provide accessible lugs or flanges on the inside of the door. The lugs 16 on the inside of the door are provided with inwardly extending slots 17 (best seen in Fig. 4) adapted to receive the'end of a tie member 18. Instead of the slots 17, it will be understood that hooks, eyes, or other type of fastening means may be employed for connection with the tie member 18. I prefer to employ the barb 16 with the slot 17 therein because such an opening interferes least with the piercing of the door sheets 11 when the bars 15 are placed in position.

In the illustration given, the tie member 18 includes a metal rod which is rearwardly curved as at 18a at the opposite ends thereof. Secured to tie member 18 within the eye formed by the reverse bend at 18a is a short length of link chain 19, one link of which is received within slot 17.

The lower end of brace bar 15 is supported within a is nailed or otherwise secured to the floor 21 of car A which extends through openings 20a. Bracket 20 is pro.- vided with a pair of spaced-apart, integral, upwardly extending projections 22 which support brace bar 15 against outward movement. The brace bar 15 is T-shaped in cross-section, as can be quickly appreciated from a consideration of Fig. 3, with the base of the T being received between the spaced-apart projections 22.

An alternative construction is shown in Fig. 6 where Other forms of bars may'be satisfactorily employed, as for example channels or bars having U or box shapes in cross-section. Also, the barbs 16 may be separate elernents welded to a flat wall of the bar, or, if desired, they may be gstruckfrom the metal of the'bar and pressed obtwardly to provide thepointed flanges shown.

In the installation of the structure, the doors 11 are set up by-the operator in the usual manner, the door edges of the supporting metal straps thereof being'nailed to thefrarne members 10, the nailing on one side being at, an angle. to draw the door fairly taut, and thereafter the 'ba't'ten members 14, if used, are secured in place. Itwill be understood, that in place of battens 1 4 largelieaded nails or staples maybe employed and the door structure describedis merely illustrative of one mode of securing thefsheet door 11 in place.

The pry boards 12 and head boards 13 may also be applied, after which brackets 29 can be mailed in place theyiare not already so located. The brackets 20 are pesitioned'so as to have the end thereof equipped with upward projections 22, orientedoutwa'rdly of the car A. The innertfa ces of the projections 22 are approximately aligned with the inner faces of door frames 10, a slight spacing between the inner faces of projections 22 and the outer face of sheet door 11 being permitted for the ready insertion of brace bar 15. However, this is not absolutely necessary since sheetdoor 11' is ordinarily slightly. compressible to permit'the insertion of brace bar 15.

The bars 15 are thereafter positioned in place on brackets 29 and then the: upper ends thereof'a're rotated inwardly to press the barb flanges 16 through the sheet doors 11, thus exposing the slots 17 on the interior of the car. After this has been done, it is relatively easy then for the operator to attach the links 19 of the tie member 18 to the oppositely disposed barbs 16. In the foregoing installation, the barbs 16 are not only caused to pierce the doors 11 readily, but they serve as a means for holding the bars in' place while the operator is installing the time member 18.

In the unloading operation, the door panels 11 may be cut to pro vide an. opening through which grain or other granular material is discharged, and in the final disassembly of the door structures, it ismerely necessary to disengage the tie member 18 from the brace bars, the bars 15, tie member 18, and brackets 20 being saved {or further use. v v I Instead of employing a single brace bar 15 at the outside of each door, it will be understood that a number of brace bars may be employed and these may be placed in difierent angular positions and may be equipped with one or a plurality of the piercing lugs 16.

In the use of the structure described, it is found that the piercing lugs 16, being thin and wide, form a narrow slit within the sheet door and the front broad face the bar 15 serves as a closure about the slit to prevent the escape of granular material therethrough. Further, the fiat lugs or flanges, by reason of their wide faces, are held more securely against lateral movement by engagement with the grain confined within car A and the broad faces do not tend to cut or widen the slit in the door. l

The structure presented solves one of the main problems in the installation of grain doors which involves the cost of labor. Herein, atsingle person from within the car may elfectively install the door closures and brace the door closures while within the car. "At the'same time, the provision of a substantially non-extensible tie member 18 precludes the possibility that the sheet doors 11 will not be properly tensioned. Through the use of a steel rod or the like with two or more chain links on the end thereof, the cross-member 18 in addition to providing necessary strength has the important advantage of proyiding a measured tension on the cross-tie members as opposed to the previous practice of permitting each op- 4 i r erator to draw the wire up to what he considered the proper tautness.

The feature of the invention in which the brace bar is secured at its lower endprevents any bulge whatsoever in the sheet door 11, which otherwise may provide the main point of weakness of the door and ultimately result in door failure and loss of grain. It is to be appreciated that the greatest pressure of grain exists at the lower edge of the door and itis precisely at this point where the invention reinforces the door While, at the same time, provides for the achievement of measured tension in the tie member 18 and therefore the sheet doors 11.

While in the foregoing specification I have set forth a specific structure in detailfor the purpose of illustrating the invention, it will be understood that such details of structure may be varied widely by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim: g

1. In combination, a chamber comprising oppositelydisposed side walls and a floor, at least one of said walls being equipped with aii opening, the other of said walls being equipped with conne'c'tion means for a tie member, a relatively flexible panel extending across said opening to close the same, a rigid vertical memberremovably secured at one end to the floor of said chamber and positioned adjacent said panel external to said chamber ndhaving its other end terminating at-about the top of said paneha lug" on said member spaced from the lower end and extending through said panel, and'a relatively non-extensible tie member connected between said connection means and said lug.

2 The structure of claim 1 in which the connection between said tie member and said lug includes hookand 7 e ean 3.1m a car having a pair of oppositely dsposed door openings equipped with door frames, temporary door closures secured to said frames across said openings and comprising flexible sheet members, a vertically-extending brace barat the outer side ofeach sheet and accessible from with n the car, each brace bar being anchored to the car floor and having a lug extending'through said sheet, each brace bar terminating at its upper end at about the top edge of its adjacent sheet said lug being in the form of aflat piercing web extending longitudinally of the bar to form a narrow, vertical slit within the sheet door, sad lug being spaced from the edges of the bar, and tie member means engaging the lugs of the said oppositely disposed bars.

The structure of claim 3 in which-the said tie member includes a rigid, rod-like element.

i 5 The structure of claim 4 in which the said rod-like element is equ pped with end links engageable with hookljike portions on said lugs.

For use with temporary door closures mounted uporifdoo r'frames at opposite sides of a car, brace bars equipped with piercing fiangesadjacent the upper ends thereof accessible fromtfe inside'of the car and having heir piercing flanges extended through the door closures, said flanges having ther inner portions provided with a means for connecting tie members the said brace bars haying a length of about the height of said closures, said piercing flang'e s being thin and wide and having their wide dimensionin'thc verteal plane of said bars and extending also centrally from. said bars to provide wide-protectie closureportions of said bars about said flanges,

' means on the bottom ends of said brace bars for securing the brace bars to the floor ofsaid car, and tie member means engaging said flanges so as to conne'ctthe oppositely-disnosed bars of said car.

' 7. In a temporary closure for opposed fre ght car doorwavs,'fiexible panels extending across the doorways and secured to the sides of the doorways, a vertically-extending brace bar'positioned externally of each panel and secured at its lower end to the car floor, said bars having 6 a height about that of the panels, each bar being equipped brace bars is equipped with a horizontally disposed with a longitudinally-extending flat piercing lug extendbracket, and nailing means releasably securing the bracking through the adjacent panel, the lugs being positioned ets to the car floor. adjacent the top of said bars, a tie member extending across the car and connected to each of said lugs, the said 5 References Cited in the file of this Patent tie member being equipped at the ends thereof with links engageable with hook means on the inner ends of said UNITED STATES PATENTS lugs. 2,581,991 Weiss Jan. 8, 1952 8. The structure of claim 7 in which each of the said 2,827,960 Keating et a1. Mar. 25, 1958 

